Curious what some of you guys are using... I've looked into SiliconDust HomeRun and the Tablo. Curious if any options exist from an HTPC perspective.

The while and I would like to cut satellite, but would still like to be able to record OTA broadcasting and would like those recordings available on multiple displays throughout the house.

I've been using the Tablo for a couple weeks now and its a decent solution. The interface is not polished but I'm hoping that will improve over time. Tivo just came out with a deal recently where you can get Roamio OTA plus lifetime subscription for $300.

Here's a quick comparison of Tivo vs Roku+Tablo+Hard Drive

Tivo: ($300 for device + lifetime subscription)
4 tuners
500 GB internal drive included
Universal remote
Requires $150 "Mini" box for each additional TV (no built-in wifi on minis)
You can keep watching current channel while in the program guide
Search includes your OTA recordings as well as Netflix, Amazon, etc.
Has limited built in apps (Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc.)
Much better/faster interface
Doesn't compress the video pulled off the antenna

Tablo: ($300, you can save $100 if you only need 2 tuners)
4 tuners
Streaming box required for each TV (I went with Roku 3's @ $100)
$150 lifetime subscription is for the user, not the device
External HD required
Can stream your OTA/DVR content anywhere for free (Tivo requires a $130 piece of hardware to stream over the internet)
Remote has headphone jack and voice search
Much better built in app selection.

One other thing, the tablo is not really suited for channel surfing as it takes a long time to simply change the channel.

I haven't done this in years, but when I did I used an HD Home Run to record TV onto my main desktop on the network. I used the built in program Windows 7 had - Media Center I believe is what it was called. Then using the Servio Media Server I was able to watch it from other TVs on my home with a PS3 as the playback device. Was a great setup, but once cable companies stopped broadcasting QAM I stopped because I wasn't able to pick up OTA channels at my location very well. However, this setup would work just fine with an antenna assuming you had good reception.

When we bought the Tablo the TIVO didn't have the lifetime subscription option. If it had we probably would have gone with that. But tablo has been good for us so far.

HDHomeRun. Setup a sever that records to a shared directory.

Then you can access the files from your other frontends.

It is slightly more involved than this but it is the gist of it.

Thank you, everyone, for your feedback. The TIVO is enticing, but I am really turned off by having to have their "mini" boxes to stream to. I'd much rather have additional options as I may need to have different devices at different TVs (i.e., HTPC at one, roku at another, PS4 at another, etc).

I like the concept of the Tablo but the fact that channel changing has a large delay has me worried. Is this the same for the HDHomeRun?

I will be running an HTPC, so an HDHomeRun would work well in the setup. My only concern would be for watching live TV, what would I use on the front end if I don't want to have an HTPC at every TV in the house?

I rarely used the HD Home Run for live TV but when I did, I didn't experience any delay in channel changing. This was over a wired network connection. I'd imagine over anything less than the latest AC wireless networks, you will experience a less than optimal experience for live TV (and possibly even recorded TV as well). Its just too much data to send over most wifi.

I do think that the latest AC networks will probably be OK though. After switching to an AC system, I am able to stream HD content at 1080p over wifi to my PS3 from a media server which I was never able to do before. I've had no hiccups with this so I think this would likely be good for the HD Home Run as well.

Tablo and HDHomeRun have a slight delay when changing channels as the tuner itself is changing and then the transcoding engine catches up (since typically the raw MPEG2 stream is not sent from the devices). Shouldn't be more than 2 seconds at most really.

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I rarely used the HD Home Run for live TV but when I did, I didn't experience any delay in channel changing. This was over a wired network connection. I'd imagine over anything less than the latest AC wireless networks, you will experience a less than optimal experience for live TV (and possibly even recorded TV as well). Its just too much data to send over most wifi.

I do think that the latest AC networks will probably be OK though. After switching to an AC system, I am able to stream HD content at 1080p over wifi to my PS3 from a media server which I was never able to do before. I've had no hiccups with this so I think this would likely be good for the HD Home Run as well.

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I will be using cat6 throughout the house

It's more than just loading the stream that makes me say that the Tablo is bad at channel surfing. Here is the process of changing the channel.

Step 1: return to channel guide (current channel stops playing)
Step 2: wait for channel guide to load (it helps if you keep your channel list to the bare minimum of channels you will watch)
Step 3: navigate through the guide to find new channel
Step 4: click ok
Step 5: wait for the show's info to pop up on screen
Step 6: click watch
Step 7: wait for the channel to load, even if its the same channel you just left (tablo has to transcode the signal which gives you a delay similar to buffering a video stream over the internet)

It works just fine for watching recordings, or if you are watching a specific show.

I've been looking at the TiVo option if Comcast won't make a deal in a month.
OTA + sling, Netflix, prime and Hulu seems to cover our needs well enough.

I went with the TiVo for our 'cut the cord' experiment and it's been great.

Being able to seamlessly switch from ota to Amazon, Hulu, Netflix, or YouTube is great.